Often Accused, Never Convicted, Gov. Edwards Still On A Roll

NEW ORLEANS — Not since the legendary Huey Long was assassinated 50 years ago has a populist governor so captivated the hearts and minds of Louisiana voters as has flamboyant Edwin Washington Edwards.

Voters here have long watched Edwards` celebrated love affair with gambling, but his racketeering trial in federal court along with four business associates, which ended in a mistrial, was his gravest roll of the dice ever. And it may not be over. The prosecutor in the case is considering a retrial next year, although he apparently is daunted by the fact that most jurors in the recent trial strongly favored acquittal.

A teetotaler, nonsmoking, gambling man, Edwards attracts more than his share of grand jury investigations--a dozen by his own count--and, local legend has it, beautiful women.

The son of a Cajun sharecropper, Edwards, 58, is a smooth-talking, self-made millionaire who has never lost any of the 15 elections that helped build his reputation here as the most popular, and perhaps most successful, politician since Long, the ``Kingfish.``

Like Long, Edwards has made a habit of courting scandal, but he has had an uncanny ability to avoid ruin. ``Let the good times roll,`` he loves to yell in the Cajun French of his native Avoyelles Parish.

It was his lifelong dream to become governor, and there is little evidence the trial diminished his popularity. ``There is a big difference between what`s illegal and what causes you to raise your eyebrows,`` he is fond of saying.

``I do not collect stamps,`` Edwards testified during the trial. ``I do not collect coins, racehorses. I do not own boats or do things other people like to do. I like to gamble, and when I lose, I like to pay.``

He kept a gambling fund in a safe at home and paid in cash when he lost at the craps tables in Nevada.

The silver-haired Democrat, a practiced lawyer and a licensed minister of the Nazarene Church, served for 10 years on the city council in Crowley, La., got voted into Congress four times and was elected to an unprecedented third term as governor in 1983.

Undaunted by his trial resulting from the only indictment ever handed down against him, Edwards announced his intention to seek a fourth term on the steps of the federal courthouse here as the lengthy trial dragged on.

Former President Jimmy Carter called him to express his sympathies and to wish him luck. Edwards has made no secret of his dislike for Republican U.S. Atty. John Volz, his chief accuser. He has called the charges against him politically motivated, a claim Volz denies.

But waiting in the wings have been other federal investigations into the governor`s role in state land purchases and his ties to Texaco Co. and other dealings with the oil industry.

Opponents and even some allies used the Edwards trial to charge that Louisiana`s government has been paralyzed and its reputation tarnished by the continuing controversy over the governor`s troubles.

That Edwards has survived repeated scandals is due in part to his populist image and partly to this state`s long tolerance of powerful and engaging political rogues.

He was first elected governor in 1971. In 1975, he won his second term by a landslide, even after admitting his wife received $10,000 from ``Koreagate`` businessman Tongsun Park, a gift of which he claimed to have been unaware.

At the time, he even joked he was giving 8-to-5 odds he wouldn`t be indicted in that influence-peddling scandal. He was right.

State law barred him from a third consecutive term. He claimed that the New Orleans trial stemmed from ``smart`` business deals he made during the four years he was out of office before trouncing Republican Gov. David Treen by a 2-to-1 margin in 1983.

Among his accomplishments as governor, Edwards streamlined the Louisiana constitution, balanced the state budget and still managed to increase spending on health and education.

To do this, he raised the flat tax per barrel on oil to 12.5 percent of value, a move that boosted state revenues during the oil boom and that author John Maginnis called ``the most important economic legacy of Edwards`

tenure.``

But when he took office again in March, 1984, amid the recent downturn in the oil industry, Edwards drew criticism by raising taxes by about $900 million.

Even while on the witness stand, Edwards made political speeches, describing himself as a champion of the poor and oppressed and told Volz, ``I spend my life helping people--friends, enemies--I helped you once.``

Volz sheepishly had to acknowledge the favor in open court, though neither man elaborated on what it was. Volz said later in an interview he had asked Edwards to see if Louisiana`s two Democratic senators would oppose his nomination by the Reagan administration for a federal judgeship.